This week read about Kristin Crowley being appointed as the next Fire Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, and Iowa being the 11th state to pass an anti-trans sports bill.
LA City Council Appoints First LGBT Fire Chief
The Los Angeles City Council confirmed Kristin Crowley as the next Fire Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) in a unanimous vote. She is the first LGBT person to hold the position.
This isn’t the first time that Crowley has made history — back in 2016, she was the city's first female fire marshal. According to the Los Angeles Blade, when Crowley took the firefighter’s exam in 1998, she scored in the top 50 out of 16,000 applicants.
She’ll officially step into her new position on March 26, after Chief Ralph Terrazas retires.
“The Center applauds the historic confirmation of Kristin Crowley to lead the fire department of the nation’s second-largest city,” Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Executive Director Joe Hollendoner said. “We thank the City Council for unanimously approving Crowley’s appointment, and we commend Mayor Garcetti for nominating her from the beginning. Crowley now joins a handful of pioneering LGBTQ fire chiefs nationwide who are out and proud, and we salute her for being an LGBTQ role model who has been making a positive contribution to our city.”
11th State Passes Anti-Trans Sports Bill
Photo via Adobe, edited by Brendon Lies.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a new piece of legislation that bans trans girls from participating in female school sports teams. The bill also applies to colleges and universities, but not to clubs that aren’t affiliated with schools.
The Advocate reports that before while at the signing ceremony for the bill, Reynolds repeatedly referred to trans girls as “males.”
“This is a victory for girls' sports in Iowa,” Reynolds said.
People with the Iowa Safe Schools LGBT advocacy group stood silently in protest behind Reynolds while she signed the legislation.
"With the stroke of a pen, Governor Kim Reynolds has made it clear that the lives of transgender children in Iowa do not matter,” said Becky Smith, the Iowa Safe Schools’ executive director. “After our trans students and their parents requested a meeting with the governor over a week ago, she ignored their pleas to have their voices heard. The passage of this bill will directly result in increased suicidality, disparate mental health outcomes, and further isolation.”
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